Feed-water apparatus for steam-boilers



UNITED STATES PATENT oEEioE.

GEO. W. RAINS, OF NEVVBURGH, NEW YORK.

FEED-WATER APPARATUS FOR STEAM-BOILERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 28,011, dated April 24,1860; Ressued July 24,

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BAINS, of Newburgh, in the county ofOrange and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedFeed-Regulator and Low-VVater Alarm for Steam-Boilers; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming partof this specification, 1n which- Figure 1, is an elevation partly insection, of the apparatus. Fig. 2, is a horizontal section of part ofthe saine in the line w, a2, of Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

My invention consists in a novel, simple, and effective contrivance forregulating the quantity of water forced into a steam boiler by a forcepump or other feed apparatus, So as to maintain about the same level ofwater in the boiler under all circumstances while the supply does notfail at its source, and in case of such failure to give an alarm in timeto prevent injurious consequences.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, represents a hollow, upright cylinder of brass or other metal, aboutten inches in height arranged near the boiler X with the middle of' itslength at or near the height of the proper water level, connected at itslower end by a pipe B, with the water space of the boiler, and near itsupper end by a pipe C, with the steam space thereof, so that it isalways supplied with water from the boiler to the height of the level inthe boiler itself.

D, is a solid piston fitted so loosely to the interior of the cylinderA, that steam may pass freely around it. This piston is furnished with ahollow rod E, which passes through a stuffing box a, in the closed upperend of the said cylinder and through a fixed guide E.

F, is a puppet valve fitted to a seat at the bottom of the cylinder, forthe purpose of closing the mouth of the pipe B, and having attached toit a long rod b, which passes right through the piston D, and its hollowrod E, which is fitted with a stuffing box, at the top to prevent theescape of steam around the rod b. The said valve has attached below it astop e, to prevent it being raised @Eisen En beyond a certain distancefrom its Seat. The piston rod E, is fitted with a loose sleeve G, whichis fitted with a dog I-I, so applied that pressure underneath it willmake it bite the said rod so that the said rod may be lifted by it, butthat the said dog when not supported, will by its own weight free itselffrom the said rod and permit the Sleeve G, to slide down the said rod.

I, is a disk attached to a horizontal shaft J, and arranged near thepiston rod with its face parallel with the said rod, and havingprojecting from its face a pin f, so arranged that by the revolution ofthe shaft and disk it (the pin 7e) may catch under projection o, (seeFig. 2) on one side of the dog I-I, and so force it upward, and make itlift the said rod and the piston. The Said disk has also a projectingrim g, extending about or more than half way round the projection of thesaid rim, being sufficiently prominent to serve as a rest-ing placeeither for a projection m, on the sleeve G, or the proj ection o, on thedog I-I, as will be presently more fully described. The shaft J, anddisk I, rotate very slowly; one or two revolutions every minute will besufficient.

K, is an arm attached rigidly to the piston rod, and having suspendedfrom it a rod L, in the lower part of which there is a slot L, whoselength may be equal or nearly equal to the distance which the piston rodE, and piston D, are raised by the action of the pin f, upon the dog H,the said slot receiving a pin i, which projects from a lever M, attachedto a cock N, or its equivalent in the suction pipe O, of the feed pumpP. The said rod has also, projecting from one side of it two pins j, j',between which are situated a lever Q, attached to a cock V, in a steampipe R, the lower end of which communicates with the steam Space of theboiler and to whose upper end is attached a steam whistle. The distancebetween the pins y' j should be about equal to the distance the pistonis lifted. Y

T, is a crank for operating the feed pump, working in a slot lc, in theplunger rod U. Y is the force pipe leading from the feed pump to theboiler.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The piston D, is raisedonce during every revolution of the said disk I, by the action of thepin f, upon the dog II, and permitted to drop by the said pin escapingfrom the dog at a certain point in its revolution. The valve F is raisedwith the piston, as far as permitted by the stop e, by the friction ofthe stuffing boX, at the upper end of the piston rod upon the rod b, andis closed again by the saure means, early in the descent of the piston,thus cutting olf the water in the cylinder from the boiler to preventits beino' forced back into the boiler by the fall of the pistonupon it.The piston in its fall strikes the water, and its descent is therebyalmost stopped, but as it sinks slowly a little further the projectionm, on the sleeve G, is caught by the projecting rim g, of the disk I,and the further descent of the sleeve prevented, and the rim g,immediately afterward coming in contact with the dog I-I, makes the saiddog gripe the piston rod, and arrest its further descent, and lift it uptill it raises the piston just above the surface of the water in thecylinder, where it holds it till the pin f, arrives at the catch andlifts the piston again as before described.

In the above operation it will be evident that the piston is arrested ator just below the water level of the boiler, whether this be high orlow, and its upward movement is always to the same distance above suchlevel, and hence any variation in such level causes the rod L, whichrises or falls with the piston, to act by means of its slot 7L, on thelever M, of the cock N, in the suction pipe to give a greater or lessopening to the said cock or to close the same entirely (the said cockclosing by the upward movement of the said lever and vice versa) andhence the supply of water to the boiler is always in proportion to thelevel, while the source of supply does not fail, or is suspendedentirely when a certain level is reached. Whenv the level in the boilersinks to a certain point, the pin j, in the rod L, striking the lever Q,of the alarm cock V, opens the said cock, and causes the alarm to besounded, and continued till the level rises in the boiler, but as thesaid level rises, the pin j, when the piston is lifted raises the saidlever Q, and closes the said cock, and the pin j', in its descent failsto open it.

I do not claim broadly, controlling the opening of a cock in the Suctionpipe of thev feed pump by the level of the water in the boiler, as I amaware that this has been attempted by means of a float which is admittedto be very unreliable in its action and also by other means; but

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination of the cylinder'A, connected with the boiler asdescribed, the piston D, having a hollow rod, the valve F, having anattached rod, passing through the piston and its hollow rod, therotating disk I, furnished with a pin f, and projecting rim g, thegripper G, IFI or its equivalent and the rod L, suspended from thepiston rod, the whole applied in connection with the cock N, in thesuction pipe or its equivalent, to operate substantially as hereindescribed.

2. In combination with the above specified apparatus I claim the alarmcock V, applied in connection with the rod L, to operate substantiallyas set forth.

GEO. W. BAINS.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL STANTON, GEO. M. CLAPP.

